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few

[fyoo]

Origin

adjective

not many but more than one: Few artists live luxuriously.

noun

(used with a plural verb

) a small number or amount: Send me a few.

the few, a special, limited number; the minority: That music appeals to the few.

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Few is always a great word to know.

So is doohickey. Does it mean:

a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc.

a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.

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pronoun

(used with a plural verb

) a small number of persons or things: A dozen people volunteered, but few have shown up.

Idioms

few and far between, at widely separated intervals; infrequent: In Nevada the towns are few and far between.

quite a few, a fairly large number; many: There were quite a few interesting things to do.

Origin:
before 900; Middle English fewe, Old English fēawe; cognate with Gothic fawai; akin to Latin paucus few, paulus little, pauper poor, Greek paûros little, few

Related forms

o·ver·few, adjective

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To few

Collins

World English Dictionary

few (fjuː)

—*determiner*
1.	a. a small number of; hardly any: few men are so cruel
	b. (as pronoun; functioning as plural): many are called but few are chosen
2.	(preceded by a)
	a. a small number of: a few drinks
	b. (as pronoun; functioning as plural): a few of you
3.	informal a good few several
4.	few and far between
	a. at great intervals; widely spaced
	b. not abundant; scarce
5.	have a few, have a few too many to consume several (or too many) alcoholic drinks
6.	informal not a few, quite a few several

—n
7.	the few Compare many a small number of people considered as a class: the few who fell at Thermopylae

[Old English fēawa; related to Old High German fao little, Old Norse fār little, silent]



'fewness

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

few

O.E. feawe (contracted to fea), from Gmc. *faw- (cf. O.N. far, Dan. faa, O.Fris. fe, O.H.G. foh "little," Goth. fawai "few"), from PIE *pau- "smallness" (cf. L. paucus "few, little," paullus "little," pauper "poor;" Gk. pauros "few, little," pais (gen. paidos) "child;" L. puer "child, boy," pullus "young

EXPAND

animal;" Oscan puklu "child;" Skt. potah "a young animal," putrah "son;" O.C.S. puta "bird;" Lith. putytis "young animal, young bird"). Always plural in O.E. Phrase few and far between attested from 1668. Unusual ironic use in quite a few "many" (1883), earlier a good few (1828).